No longer in saddle with Colts, LaCasse chomping at the bit

Tuesday

Given that, Stoughton's Ryan LaCasse lends a rather unique perspective to Sunday's battle of NFL unbeatens inside the RCA Dome.

“Both teams are going into the game with a ton of momentum,” the former Colt said in a telephone interview from Indianapolis on Monday. “The NFL is going to eat this up with advertisements and sponsorships.

“It's going to be the most overhyped game in midseason ever, but it really is a good matchup of two teams playing on one level while the rest of the league is playing on another tier. These two teams are playing at an elite level. It will be an even matchup because of that.”

It certainly was a little more than nine months ago when the two teams met for the 2006 AFC championship inside the dome, a 38-34 last-minute Colts victory that helped LaCasse gain the Super Bowl ring he showed the folks back home when he returned from Indianapolis just before the start of training camp.

“I was home for a week in July and everyone liked it a lot,” said LaCasse.

“They said the Patriots' rings looked better, but they still thought it was pretty good.”

Selected by the Baltimore Ravens in the seventh round of the 2006 NFL draft, LaCasse, who earned first-team All-Big East honors at right defensive end his senior year at Syracuse, was dealt to the Colts on Sept. 2 of that year in exchange for a seventh-round choice in this year's draft.

Released by the Colts nearly a year to the day of that trade (during this year's final preseason cuts on Sept. 1), LaCasse has yet to latch on with another team.

“It's a tough time to get released,” said LaCasse, who totaled 14 tackles (13 on special teams, one on defense) in 13 games (12 regular season, one postseason) with the Colts last season. “It's a situation where teams have their rosters filled and nine million guys are getting released.”

All that has made for a void in the life of LaCasse, a standout two-way player during his days with the Stoughton High Black Knights.

“It's strange,” he said. “This is the first time in 10 years or so I haven't played football in the fall. I haven't played in two months.”

The 6-foot-2, 257 pounder had a tryout with the Cincinnati Bengals earlier this month.

Beyond that, LaCasse spends his time working out and watching and waiting.

“It's kind of like working in a funeral home,” he cracked. “You need some people to get knocked off. You watch for injuries and wait for phone calls.”

For the time being, then, home will remain Indianapolis.

In that respect, it's kind of like working in real estate for LaCasse. It's all about location, location, location.

“It wouldn't be worth moving back to Boston,” he said. “With my situation, Indianapolis is pretty much centrally located, so I figured I'd hang out here, work out, stay in shape, stay ready for any opportunities that might come along and see what happens. It's part of the business. It's part of my career right now.”

And a rather significant football game to be played this weekend will feature a couple of teams from LaCasse's past – his former favorite team taking on his former teammates.

“It's a battle of arms,” LaCasse said of the Pats-Colts rivalry. “It's like the Red Sox and Yankees in years past, where the two teams would load up their rosters and try to get the edge on the other guy.”

While LaCasse wouldn't give an edge to either team heading into Sunday, he said he believes the Patriots' moves in the offseason closed whatever gap they had to make up against the defending champs.

“I think that Patriots have gotten a little stronger while the Colts lost a few guys (in free agency),” he said. “The Colts have done a good job of filling in (for the losses) with guys, though. Like any football game, this is going to come down to which defense shows up and which quarterback executes best.”

As with their teams, LaCasse sees little to choose between the quarterbacks – the Patriots' Tom Brady and the Colts' Peyton Manning.

“On a scale of 100, year in and year out one's a 99, the other's a 98, and they flip-forth back and forth each year,” said LaCasse. “Brady's got great receivers. Manning's had them in the past.”

As for LaCasse, he's looking forward to the immediate future — this Sunday's game in Indy, which he intends to watch on TV.

“I'm looking forward to checking it out,” said LaCasse. “It's going to be a good rematch. I think the Patriots have more of a chip on their shoulders because of the AFC championship, which isn't to say the Colts are going to be taking this lightly.”

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